Music producer Richard Perry, known for his iconic collaborations with numerous artists from Carly Simon to Barbra Streisand, has died at the age of 82.
Daphna Kastner, Perry’s friend, confirmed his death to news outlets. “He maximized his time here,” Kastner said in a statement to ABC News. “He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.” Kastner said that Perry died at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest.
Perry cemented his legendary status by producing a number of popular albums in the Seventies, including Simon’s No Secrets, Streisand’s Stoney End, and Ringo Starr’s self-titled LP Ringo, as well as his following LP Goodnight Vienna.
On top of his professional successes, Perry detailed his robust personal life in his 2021 memoir Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer. His marriages to Linda Goldner, his first wife, and Rebecca Broussard ended in divorce. More recently, Perry was in a relationship with Jane Fonda from 2009 until 2017
In a 1973 interview with Rolling Stone, Simon said that working with Perry is like working with “a movie director.”
“He sees himself as holding the camera, as directing the players, as calling the final shots, as doing a theme, rather than as an interpreter,” she said. “Richard has much more endurance than I have and much more perseverance, so where I would leave off, he would continue. Whenever he tried to direct my singing in a certain way and I would try to go along with direction, it ended up unnatural. He would realize that and say, ‘I’m sorry. Go back and sing it the way you feel it,’ and that would invariably end up to be the right way.’”
The producer built a reputation over his storied career working with accomplished artists. According to Variety, Simon said she recorded over 100 takes of “You’re So Vain” at Perry’s direction. Streisand also wrote about Perry in her 2023 memoir, saying, “Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist.” The list of artists Perry worked with during his time in the music industry is extensive, including Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Harry Nilsson, and the Pointer Sisters.
Over the course of his career, Perry was nominated for seven Grammys and in 2015 he was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Grammys.
“Perry is a commercial genius,” Stephen Holden declared in Rolling Stonein 1973. “The quality of sound Perry can produce is frightening. It is cold and glamorous in its corporate calculation, flexible enough to embrace the entire pop mainstream. Voices — Nilsson’s, Streisand’s, Simon’s — through electronic manipulation, become perfect technological artifacts, and every song a potential hit single.”
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Author: Al Denté